This is a wonderful meaty tomato sauce recipe to make on a chilly Sunday with football on in the background, but honestly, I enjoy it all year around. It makes the house smell amazing! When I prepare a batch of my easy weekend bolognese, I usually serve half of it, then freeze the other half. You can safely freeze this sauce for up to 3 months. For the wine, I used a cabernet sauvignon, but you can use any red you like that’s on the dry side. Also, one last note, if you use plain crushed tomatoes, feel free to add 1 tbsp of dried basil.
Looking for a bolognese recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes? Try my easy weekday bolognese, or for other ideas to use up your ground beef, try my Greek meatballs with pita or easy beef chili.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Serves 12 people
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
3 lbs ground sirloin
1 cup dry red wine
2 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes with basil
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 dried bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Preparation
In a large Dutch oven heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, roughly 10 minutes. Add beef and garlic. Cook, breaking up the meat with the back of a spoon, until no longer pink and barely cooked through, about another 10 minutes.
Add wine and increase heat to high. Bring to a boil and cook until liquid reduces by half, 6-8 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes with basil, tomato paste, oregano, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer, stirring often until thickened and reduced to about 8 cups, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Discard bay leaves before serving (or freezing).
I prefer to serve this easy weekend bolognese with short pasta, either rigatoni rigate or rotelle.